Chernobyl and Fukushima – Nuclear's final insults

Saturday, 20 July 2013

The nuclear disaster
at the Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan in 2011 came as a timely reminder that
nuclear power and nuclear weapons are inherently unsafe. Radiation escaped from Fukushima's four
reactors, contaminating water, milk and crops all over the world. Millions of gallons of highly radioactive
water have been pumped back into the Pacific.
Contamination close to the minimum legal limit was found in drinking
water in dozens of cities in the USA, as far apart as California to
Massachusetts and Washington to Alabama.
Hawaii was severely affected.
In the town of Ibarak, south of Fukushima, radiation 300 times above
normal levels were monitored (surveyors found up to 3.7 million becquerels
per square meter – the abandonment standard used at Chernobyl was 1.48
million).

The National Council
on radiation protection states "every single exposure to radiation
produces an incremental increase in the risk of cancer", whilst in the
U.S.A. the Environmental Protection Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
the Energy Department, the National Academy of Sciences and the Health and
Human Services Organisation, all say "There is no safe dose of Radiation".

Japan limited its
evacuation of people to within 12-18 miles radius of the stricken Fukushima
plant, even though dangerous levels of caesium were found in a village 25 miles
away, in amounts over twice the evacuation standards used at Chernobyl. Independent analysts and scientists have
called for broader and stricter limits on food and water use. Time and time again we have seen the Nuclear
Industry play down the extent of any problem.
In a Radiation emergency, as in War, the first casualty is truth.

The word Chernobyl has
come to represent the deadly terrifying risks posed by nuclear power. In 1986, Unit 4 at Chernobyl ran out of
control, caused two giant explosions and burned for 40 days spreading
radioactive contamination to every country in the Northern Hemisphere. Here in Scotland, moving sheep to the market
in some areas was banned for 15 years, and currently in Germany meat from wild
boar is still classed as too dangerous to eat. At the time of the disaster,
high levels of fallout were measured in Japan, 4,900 miles away,
which shows that the spread of radiation has no boundaries. "The 2005 United Nations Chernobyl
Forum" projected 9,000 eventual deaths in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
Since then the study has been lambasted and lampooned for not considering
fatalities far beyond these republics.

Only 7 million people
live in the areas studied by the "Chernobyl Forum", whereas 600
million live in Western Europe and elsewhere, in which around two-thirds of
Chernobyl's collective radioactive dose was deposited. Author Alexy Yablokov
states "There is no reasonable explanation of the fact that the
"Chernobyl Forum" completely neglected the consequences in other
countries which received the bulk of the Chernobyl radionuclides". In his book, published in 2009 after many years
of research titled "Chernobyl,
Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment", he
estimates 985,000 deaths to date have already occurred. An article published in 1998 in the UK
magazine "The Doctor" said that at least 100,000 more deaths would
occur in Eastern Europe than previously estimated. This came to light following post mortems
carried out on young people killed in traffic accidents, when previously
undetected plutonium was found in their lungs.

Recently, Germany, the
most industrialised country in Europe, where wind power makes a considerable
contribution to its energy needs, is phasing out all its nuclear plants by
2020.In Italy, Government plans to
build 5 new nuclear plants have been dashed following a referendum which
resulted in 90% of the public to be firmly opposed.Whilst the Scottish Government will not allow
the building of any nuclear plants on Scottish soil, I feel it is time for
pressure to be put on the Westminster Government to hold a U.K. wide referendum
on the issue.Ironically, whilst the Japanese Government has abandoned all plans to build any further nuclear facilities, the Westminster Government has asked Japan to build the next generation of nuclear power stations in the UK (having been refused by France, China, etc).See also: More blogs by John Jappy

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About Me

After completing ‘Highers’ in school, I joined the Civil Service in Inverness in the Accountant and Comptroller General’s Branch. Several quick promotions took me to the Head Office in London, and further promotions to the General Accounting Division, with links to the Treasury. This involved me in the preparation of National Budgets.
I also was entrusted to handle the most confidential investment papers of Her Majesty the Queen and personally repaid to her the income tax deducted on these investments, which at that time the Monarch was not required to pay.
It was whilst working on Government finance that I became aware of the appalling waste of resources on weapons of mass destruction, which could never be used without causing the end of civilisation. On retiring from the Civil Service I joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), originally serving as Liaison Officer of the Highland Federation of twenty-two CND Groups. I was then elected National Convener of the Scottish Campaigns' Committee and served as a member of the Scottish National Executive. I am currently Vice President of Scottish CND.